


Headaches

by eclipsedheart



Category: Westworld (TV)
Genre: Drunken Kissing, Excessive Drinking, F/F, F/M, Hangover, day after drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 01:34:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16007537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eclipsedheart/pseuds/eclipsedheart
Summary: Day after staff party, hungover Theresa tries to figure out who the hell she was kissing last night and WHY? Not a serious fic by any means. :)





	Headaches

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still struggling with writer's block regarding certain stories, but apparently, I can write some stuff anyway, so I'm gonna do that until I can return to my multi-chapter stories, and hope you'll enjoy what I can get out. ^^

* * *

 

_How you know that headache is a real doozy – when it actually gets worse from the fizzing sound of the Alka-Seltzer. This is going to be one shitty day_ , Theresa thought and rubbed her temples. But it was her own damn fault. She hadn’t really _needed_ that last whiskey, had she?

_Yeah, blame the last drink, the three_ … she frowned … _or was it_ _four? Five? Before it are blameless._  

Technically, all the drinks were blameless. The idiot in this equation had been her, downing them like there was no tomorrow. Well, now it was tomorrow, and she paid the price.

The pain reliever gave off its final fizz and she was about to reach for the glass when a sudden overwhelming need to sneeze came over her, with such intensity she barely had time to draw a breath, much less think of ways to stop it and spare her throbbing head the additional pain.  

“Oh fuck, that hurt,” she muttered, holding her head for a moment as if making sure it was still in one piece. It was, of course, but the steady pounding was so strong it made her eyes water.

_If I don’t show up to work because of a hangover, Lee Sizemore will have a field day after all the times I’ve picked on him for that very reason._

Yeah, she wasn’t going to give him that, even if he hardly was in any better shape today.

Fucking staff parties. The park closed for two weeks every four months, for more serious repairs and environmental control check-ups, and the last night before closedown, staff had a party emptying the mesa bar. Theresa normally stayed away from these parties, and she had no idea why she had agreed to go this time. Or why she’d had so much to drink.

Wait a second. She had done more than drinking last night, hadn’t she? She vaguely remembered someone kissing her. Soft but eager lips pressed against hers, and a lovely scent of…

Bergamot and vanilla? A woman? Had she been kissing a woman on the staff party? Why had she been kissing anyone _at all_ ; she was involved with Bernard, and while they had never established exclusiveness or anything, she was monogamous by nature. At least that was what she thought, and she supposed Bernard had thought so too. She had to find him and talk to him about what had happened… if she could only figure out for herself what _had_ happened.

_Welcome to Hell Day, Cullen_ , she thought bitterly to herself as she downed the Alka-Seltzer in one go before leaving her apartment.

* * *

 

Lee looked like he had gotten a full half-hour’s worth of sleep and hadn’t bothered shaving. He chewed some kind of painkillers and washed them down with black coffee when Theresa arrived.

“Morning,” he muttered. “And not a very good one.”

He didn’t seem to be in the mood to gloat over her joining in on the misery, so she shook her head in response – but very slowly, so not to get dizzy.

“No, it’s not.”

“I thought you Scandinavians could hold your liquor,” he said.

“I could, until I turned forty. Curse of middle age. You’ll get to experience it soon enough too.”

Lee huffed.

“I already am. Ugh.” He burped, then winced. “Ew, that tasted like old Margaritas.”

“I really didn’t need to know that,” Theresa replied, wrinkling her nose. “Margaritas, by the way? You had the whole unlimited mesa bar within reach, and you had _Margaritas_? Are you secretly a suburban housewife?”

“Ha, ha, ha. Are you secretly gay with a thing for younger women?” he threw back. “Don’t look at me like that, everyone saw it.”

“Then please enlighten me what happened.”

He looked at her with a smirk.

“You don’t remember? Hah. Never thought I’d see the day Theresa Cullen got blackout drunk.”

“Fuck you.”

“Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay. But your choice in women was a bit surprising.”

“I’m not gay, Lee.”

He waved it off.

“Bisexual, then. Whatever.”

Theresa almost told him she wasn’t bisexual either, but that wasn’t entirely true. Overly simplified, though. She went to bed – or into relationships – with people she was attracted to. Gender wasn’t an issue in her eyes. But she _wasn’t_ attracted to any of the women on staff here.

“I mean…” Lee continued. “Elsie Hughes? I thought you two hated each other.”

“What?” Theresa couldn’t hide her surprise. “You’re kidding!”

“You really don’t remember?” he chuckled. “Yeah. She was sitting on your lap and everything.”

_Oh God. Did Bernard see that? Oh, I am so fucked. What the hell was I thinking?_

“No, I don’t remember that at all.”

“Now I want to know what _you_ were drinking. If I had some of that, maybe I’d forget I agreed to this stupid job in the first place.”

“Yeah, it must be very hard on you, getting paid for making up depraved storylines and yelling at your subordinates,” she said sarcastically.

He sighed, nodded as if he agreed that he was being obnoxious, and drank some coffee instead of answering. Which was good, because Theresa hadn’t meant to sound as vicious as she had, and the last thing she wanted was to engage in a fight.

“Have you seen Bernard this morning?” she asked.

“No. Maybe he’s even worse for wear than you and I.”

_That’s what I’m worried about, because if he is, it’s my fault._

Theresa’s phone chimed with an incoming text. She read it and her stomach felt like a knot.

_Theresa, we need to talk. Come to my place. – Bernard_

Better to get it over with, regardless how reluctant she was. She walked off, leaving Lee with his coffee and his hangover.

* * *

 

She knocked on Bernard’s door, and he opened immediately as if he had been lurking right behind it.

“Bernie, I…” she cleared her throat, not sure how to continue.

“Come in,” he said. He looked serious, but not like he had caught his… whatever she was, friend with benefits, lover, girlfriend… cheating on him with another woman smack dab in front of the entire workplace. Theresa was feeling somewhat comforted by this, but not much. The fragments of memory didn’t give her a lot to go on at all. She knew she had been together with him most part of the evening, and she was pretty certain he had been the one making sure she got home alright. So where the fuck did the kissing fit in?

“Elsie is here, and she has something to say to you.”

Elsie? What the fuck was this?

Keeping her mouth shut for the simple reason that she had no idea what was going on, Theresa followed Bernard into the living room area, where Elsie sat curled up on the couch. The same couch where Theresa and Bernard had given in to their attraction the first time. What on Earth had possessed her to kiss this girl when she had someone like Bernard?

“Elsie?” Bernard said, and the younger woman looked up at Theresa, took a deep breath, and words began to spill out of her.

“Theresa, I am so sorry about last night. I was so fucking drunk, and some of us were over at one table being really childish and playing truth or dare, and they dared me to kiss you.”

“They dared you to kiss me?” Theresa echoed, and there was only confusion in her voice, but Elsie interpreted it as elegantly supressed anger.

“Yeah. And I was drunk and stupid enough to agree, so I…” she blushed, “I think I even climbed onto your lap when I kissed you. Oh fuck, yeah, I did. I really have nothing to say in my defence. I realise disciplinary actions will be taken, and…”

“Back up for a moment, Miss Hughes.” Theresa was still trying to make sense of this flow of new information. “You kissed me on a dare? Then what?”

“Well, when you left the bar I went back to the others. I should have gone to apologise right away, but I, um, I passed out a little while after that.”

_So did I_ , Theresa thought, but the relief was so immense she couldn’t even be angry.

“Alright. Uh…” she gave Bernard a glance, but he in turn was busy giving Elsie a disapprovingly stern, almost fatherly glare. And suddenly, Theresa thought she might start laughing, despite the headache and the whole mess. “I accept your apology. Let’s say that was the one slipup you get for free. Go back to your place and get some sleep. I don’t think you’re even hungover yet, I think you’re still drunk.”

“Probably,” Elsie acknowledged as she stood up. “Thank you.” She sounded uncharacteristically shy, but maybe that was no wonder considering the circumstances.

When the door closed behind the younger woman, Bernard turned to Theresa.

“That was _very_ gracious of you. In fact, surprisingly so.”

“Bernie, I was so fucking drunk myself I don’t even remember that happening. I’m not exactly in a position where I can afford to be high and mighty right now,” she admitted.

“I know,” he chuckled. “I was the one helping you get back home. You don’t remember that either?”

“Almost, but not really.”

“Maybe you should go and try to get some more sleep, as well?”

“If I did, Lee would never stop mocking me.”

“But…”

Theresa’s phone rang.

“Speak of the devil,” she sighed and picked up. “Yes?”

“Just so you know, I’m going back to my quarters,” Lee’s voice said. “You can mock me as much as you like, but I just threw up all over my desk.”

“I didn’t need to know _that_ either,” Theresa said. “Fine, but you clean that up before you leave, because I’m not sending any cleaning crew to take care of your bad decisions.”

“Yeah, yeah. How’s your little girl toy?”

“Go fuck yourself,” she snapped, turned off the call and looked at Bernard. “Saved by the reappearance of old Margaritas.” Her eyes narrowed. “What about you? What little I do remember is that you weren’t far behind me in terms of drinks.”

“Oh I feel the effects too, but not as bad as anyone else in this place, it would seem,” he said with a chuckle. “So, what do you say? Seems everybody else have given up today, should we do the same?”

“If you’re saying what I think you’re saying, you’d better be gentle with me. This headache is not a joke.”

“I’m only suggesting we go to bed. I’m not suggesting any activities once we’re there.”

Theresa pursed her lips.

“I should be disappointed, but I’m mostly relieved.”

“Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “I feel the exact same way." He was quiet a little while, and then couldn't help himself. "She accidentally let slip that you were one hell of a kisser, though." 

Theresa groaned. 

"I didn't kiss her back, did I?"

"Yes, you did. You told me when we got back that if she was brave enough to kiss the dragon, she might just as well get something out of it."

"I said that?" Theresa sighed. "Bernard, next time I think going to the staff parties seems like a good idea, please handcuff me. To your bed." 

"Now that sounds like a date," he chuckled. 

"Yes," Theresa said with a naughty smile. "It does, doesn't it?"

 

 


End file.
